


See If I Can Catch A Dream

by theperuvianfolkband



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Band Fic, F/M, Fluff, Hate to Love, Minor Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Minor Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-25
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-04-28 00:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5070055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theperuvianfolkband/pseuds/theperuvianfolkband
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Percy is in a band and Annabeth is unimpressed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	See If I Can Catch A Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Name's taken from Panic!At the Disco's She Had the World

If there was one thing Percy Jackson liked about being in a band, it was the actual physical _playing_. The feeling he got when he was standing there, exposing his soul to the world through his voice, his words, when he could _feel_ the bass in his chest, when he would just be swaying to the music without even realizing it. Whether it was on a stage or in his crappy garage, it didn’t matter. Yeah, if Percy Jackson could pinpoint one thing about being in a band that made it worth it, it’d be that. 

And, no, it didn’t really matter to him if other people thought they were good, because _he_ thought they were good (and they damn were). And if they didn’t agree, they could go somewhere else and stop listening to their music. End of the story. 

So it surprised him when one day he finished their last song at practice and saw a girl he’d never seen before looking on with a bored expression and indifferent eyes that it bothered him. 

Percy had started the band, The Olympians, with his friend Jason the year before when they were juniors in high school. Percy could kind of sing, well-- he had a decent enough voice that was passable, and, really, that’s all you really needed-- Jason could play the guitar, and it kind of just… took off after that. And, no, it wasn’t like in those crappy Disney Channel original movies where the kids just meet randomly in detention one day and they’re all just somehow musically gifted and just end up banging out a really awesome tune, and yes he was talking about _Lemonade Mouth_ because it was just _so damn ridiculous._

(Good movie, though.) 

Anyway. So. Not like _Lemonade Mouth_ , but pretty much a dream come true, anyway. It had started out just him and Jason, but they soon realized they needed more people so fill up the sound, so they posted fliers. Which brought Hazel, a girl a year younger but was a stellar keyboardist and Leo, the mechanic geek that turned out to be a crazy good drummer. And while it started out as a joke, most of their time spent on playing _Guitar Hero_ instead of their actual instruments, they soon realized they were decent. And then decent turned into good. And after that, it just kind of… took off. Pretty soon they were playing at school dances and being hired to play at restaurants and sometimes they’d just play in parks or on the sidewalk just for the heck of it, and it was-- well, it was _awesome_. And fun. And that’s all they really wanted.

So, Percy knew they were good. He didn’t need the validation of anyone else, because he was having fun dammit. Which brought him back to the girl. As Jason struck their last chord, Percy grinned at his crew saying, “All right, I think that’s enough for today, guys.” Leo whooped, crashing down on his drums again, and Hazel smiled in that quiet way of hers, and Percy couldn’t help but feel a surge of affection for these three other people who somehow made the past two years the best of his high school career. 

He glanced up and found the blonde looking directly at him, her head tilted slightly to the side, her eyes narrowed. He raised his eyebrows before turning back help disassemble everything, and shook his head, expected her to be gone by the time he turned back. Except she wasn’t. And it was really annoying him. 

So when Hazel and Leo said their goodbyes, Percy waved distractedly at them and started making his way over to her. This time it was her who raised her eyebrows, and he grinned at the challenge. “Come here often?” he asked, and cringed. “Sorry. I’m not trying to pick you up, it’s just I haven’t seen you around here before.” Up close, he could tell her eyes were grey and there was a hat sticking out of her back pocket. 

“Yeah, well, I’m mostly here for my friend,” the blonde said, jerking her head to Piper, who was currently wrapped around Jason in a way that Percy really wish he hadn’t seen. “She’s been raving about you guys for weeks.” 

Percy laughed. “You’re Piper’s friend? She’s been saying she’s been trying to get you around here.” 

“Has she now?” 

“Yeah, she has.” 

The blonde considered him for a moment before sticking out her hand. “Annabeth Chase.”

“Percy Jackson.”

“So I’ve heard.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, but brushed her aloof tone off. “So, what’d you think?”

“Of what?”

He laughed, thinking she was kidding. When all he was met with was a blank stare, he cleared his throat. “The band.”

“Oh.” She was silent for a moment before saying, “The chorus was good, but the bridge was kind of weak. I think you’re pushing Hazel too much to the background and you don’t really realize the potential that a keyboardist can bring to a song. Most of your songs were very guitar based and there were plenty of drum breaks, but you never really have any where the keyboard stands out, which is kind of stupid, I think, on your part. Also, your lyrics kind of suck, they’re really repetitive.” 

As she spoke, his eyebrows had been inching higher and higher on his forehead, and he was pretty sure by the time she looked back at him, they had disappeared. His jaw was slack, slightly opened, and she smirked, reaching out a hand to snap it shut. “Um, that was…” he began before she cut him off. 

“Informative? Yeah, I think so, too.” 

Clenching his jaw, he narrowed his eyes. “What makes you such an expert, Chase?”

“You asked for my opinion, Jackson,” she responded, almost spitting out his last name as he had hers. “Sorry if you’re ego can’t take it, but that’s how I feel. Take it or leave it.”

“Look, we’re not freaking poets here, what do you expect of us? We’re high schoolers. It’s not like we can come up with really deep meaningful songs that really _speak to the soul_.” 

She opened her mouth, looking like she was going to say something, before snapping it shut. He smirked and she glared. “Okay, here’s the deal: I’m not here to be one of your fucking _groupies_. I’m only here for Piper because she’s basically been salivating over your music for the past few weeks, and, I’ll admit it, I was curious. And, don’t get me wrong, your music is decent. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to come in here and bat my eyelashes at you in the hopes that you’ll decide to take me out on a date. I’m going to give it to you how it is, Jackson, and right now, I’m giving you constructive criticism. If you can’t take it, don’t ask for it. Got it?” He scoffed at her, and she rolled her eyes. “You think you’re such hot shit because you swiped a couple of gigs and now all the girls at school think you’re hot stuff, fucking growling into that microphone because you think you’ve hit puberty. Please.” 

And before he could even think of something clever to snap back, she was already turning on her heel and walking out.

**Author's Note:**

> Not betaed. All mistakes are mine.


End file.
